Final exams for the faithful

For Illinois football fans, Saturday's spring game at Memorial Stadium will provide a sneak preview of three of the early arrivals in coach Ron Zook's highly rated recruiting class.

Arrelious Benn, the Parade All-American wide receiver from Washington (D.C.) Dunbar; Erique Robertson, the versatile back from Maple Heights, Ohio; and defensive back Bo Flowers, the former Walther Lutheran star returning to football after playing minor-league baseball for four seasons, will be on hand. Benn and Robertson are midyear high school graduates who, like Flowers, enrolled at Illinois in January to get a head start on college and football.

"I felt I would have a chance to compete early and have a big impact," Benn says. "Illinois is on the rise. They have my style of offense and a tremendous quarterback, Juice Williams. I want to be an impact player from the opening game"

Robertson was shifted from defensive back to running back because of the nagging hamstring injury that has curtailed junior Rashard Mendenhall's spring workload.

"Coach Zook asked if it would be OK if they moved me to offense," Robertson says. "He left it up to me. I played both in high school, so it wasn't a big adjustment. I prefer hitting, but it's good to score touchdowns."

Mendenhall will play Saturday, but several of the team's best players have been out throughout spring practice. The most notable absentees will be linebacker J Leman, the Big Ten's leading tackler (ankle surgery); tackle Akim Millington, the Illini's best offensive lineman, (shoulder surgery); and field-goal and extra-point specialist Jason Reda (groin injury).

The most heavily scrutinized player on the field will be Williams, the freshman from Chicago Vocational who won the starting job early last season but completed only 39.5 percent of his passes.

"No question, Juice is the face of our program," Zook says. "He's 19 years old, and he's in his second semester of college. There's no doubt in our mind -- he's the guy."